$650 College Student Desktop

January 19, 2012 6:50:12 PM

Approximate Purchase Date: Now

Budget Range: $650 Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: 3D Modeling/MMO Gaming

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, OS. (I just need a PC)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg Only

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: No - Warranties are always good.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: Up to 1920x1080. Will go lower if needed because of budget constraints.
I have this or maybe one version older.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Additional Comments: If I could get no LEDs that would be nice. I like a dark room. A plain professional case is preffered.
I was going to go with a Sandy Bridge I3 and a AMD 6850 and a 450W-500W power supply. That way I could squeeze in a nicer LGA 1155 motherboard to possibly upgrade to Ivy Bridge I5 and a better graphics card later on. I don't know if that is a good plan.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3B1K2/4GX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Thanks for any feedback!

More about : 650 college student desktop

| E-mail me updates
| Report abuse

somekidxd

January 19, 2012 7:00:02 PM

i5 2400 $190
ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s $70
SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 $165
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB $100
Antec ECo 620w $60
Cooler Master Elite 430 $55
Lg 22x DVD drive $18
Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $40

Total: $698

If you cant this, drop down to i3 2100, same parts will work. If you are thinking of upgrading to Ivy i5, then get the i3 then upgrade.

| Report abuse

Raiddinn

January 19, 2012 7:06:57 PM

OP - One of the best builds I can remember seeing out of a new poster.

All I would say is if you don't want to upgrade you can drop $50ish off the price of the motherboard and get a gigabyte micro board instead and then increase the processor to an it-2400 like somekid said.

The Asus CD drive is very good, but some other company might have a better deal on a worse CD drive if it has free shipping. The $8 shipping on the Asus drive right now is painful on a $19 object. Glad I got mine of those during a free shipping deal.

Other than that, I would keep all the stuff you suggested the same.

| Report abuse